On 11-12 September 2019, the prestigious General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University in Ratmalana hosted its major annual event in military studies – the 12th International Research Conference. Under the overarching theme of “Challenges to Humankind in the Face of New Technologies”, the Conference gathered prominent experts in Defence Studies, Law, Governance, Environment and Space Studies, Information Technologies, Medicine, Engineering, and other spheres vital to humanity but prone to a number of contemporary challenges particularly, to terrorism in its various developing forms.
Russia, the country which has acquired vast experience in effective prevention and eradication of terrorism, was represented by Major General Victor V. Shulyak, Professor of Military Strategy Chair of the Military Academy of General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Russia’s highest military education and research institution.
By focusing the KDU presentation on this theme, crucial to Sri Lanka, the Russian Defence Ministry and military academia responded to the initiative of Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Russia Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka, endorsed by Chief of Sri Lanka Defence Staff Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne, who, during his visit to Russia in June, highlighted the importance of sharing the two countries’ experience in combatting terrorism.
The presentation by Major General V. V. Shulyak represented a substantial step in this direction as it covered the particular traits of contemporary terrorism, the use of information technologies by terrorist organizations, objectives and operational experience of Armed Forces in counterterrorism action, along with the mechanisms of political regulation of conflicts, and analyzed the outcome of operations against international terrorism in the interests of the humanity.
